30,000 civilian guards to secure Chinese new year
JAKARTA (JP): Some 30,000 civilian guards have been assigned to assist security forces uphold a peaceful Chinese new year celebration on Wednesday.
Head of the Indonesian Chinese Cultural Preservation Foundation Acai told reporters, after a meeting with Governor Sutiyoso, that the number excluded some 8,000 police and Indonesian Military (TNI) troops who will be deployed for citywide security patrols during the festivities.
Acai said the civilian guards, who had been recruited from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force) and National Youth Guards Foundation (YPPB), have been dispatched to safeguard some 130 Chinese temples across the capital.
He added that approximately 300 guards would be posted near the Glodok business district in Central Jakarta.
The capital was tormented by bomb attacks during the closing months of 2000, and a wave of demonstrations are now expected ahead of the announcement of a House of Representatives investigation into financial scandals allegedly linked to President Abdurrahman Wahid on Jan. 29.
Acai said the presence of civilian guards would also give no room for large scale violence.
Some 1.5 million Chinese Indonesians who live in Jakarta will celebrate the Chinese New Year 2552 on Wednesday.
Security was also bolstered in Surabaya, the country's second largest city after Jakarta, as local police deployed 1,500 personnel to maintain order. Buildings under supervision include 21 temples.
Local Konghucu and Chinese associations, meanwhile, called on people to celebrate the new year in moderation.
Separately, head of Jakarta's ministry of education office Alwi Nurdin asserted that school activities should continue on the Chinese new year.
"The government has never declared the Chinese new year a public holiday. We expect no schools to halt activities on that day," Alwi said.
He said business would continue as usual in some private schools which have many students of Chinese Indonesians, including Bunda Hati Kudus in Grogol, West Jakarta. Some others, however, would cut short activities in observance of the unofficial holiday.
Earlier this week, a number of Indonesian Chinese organizations proposed to the Jakarta government that the Lunar New Year be declared a national holiday, giving rise to debate among the general public, including the ethnic Chinese community.
Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Tolchah Hasan told journalists earlier this week that he had recommended to President Abdurrahman that Imlek be made a national holiday, and was awaiting a presidential decision.
Under former president Soeharto's rule, everything related to Chinese culture was banned from public display and the ethnic Chinese here were discouraged from celebrating the Lunar New Year in the grand, traditional Chinese style. (04/edt/nur)